ADVISORS

Ms. Laufer-Rottman is the founder of Palms for Life Fund and CFFF. She is a former employee of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) where she worked for almost 30 years in several senior positions. She has traveled extensively in developing countries and has had first-hand experience dealing with impoverished communities. She has managed anti-poverty projects, large feeding programs, and humanitarian operations in Burkina Faso, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Nicaragua. Her experience includes school feeding programs, vulnerable groups’ projects, advancement of women, rural development and assets creation.

Bruno became CEO of StarChefs.com, combining her culinary training with her business know-how. The mission statement of StarChefs became about giving chefs the tools they need to be the best they can be in a fractious and competitive industry. In 2001, Bruno also took on the role of Editor-in-Chief, leading StarChefs to become an industry authority on chefs and food trends. The Rising Star Awards were launched in 2002 as a platform for young chefs to be recognized broadly. And in 2006, Bruno launched the International Chefs Congress, a professionally culinary symposium like no other in the world, attended by the who's who of chefs and over 2,000 of their peers.

Bruno earned a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics and her MBA from Harvard Business School. She’s been a judge on “Iron Chef,” a guest on morning programs across the country, and was nominated for James Beard Awards for “Best Multi-Media Feature” and “Best Food Website” and awarded Top Women in New York Foodservice & Hospitality 5 years in a year. Bruno is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, The James Beard Foundation, and Women Presidents’ Organization; Antoinette was elected to the board of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs in 2012 and has served on four boards over the course of her career.

Jennifer Schiff Berg graduated from the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University with a master's degree in Food Service Management in 1996 and a PhD in Food Studies in 2006. She has taught numerous courses in the Department since 1990 and now serves as the director for the Graduate Program in Food Studies.

With a focus on the intersection of food, culture, and identity, she conducts her own research on Jewish American foodways.

Berg serves as the treasurer for the Association for the Study of Food and Society, an international organization dedicated to an interdisciplinary discourse on the role of food in culture and society and advisory board member for the American Institute of Wine and Food. She co-chair Days of Taste, a yearly farm-to-table program for 2000 New York City public school students. She is a certified Greenmarket tour guide and tour market trainer for the New York City Council on the Environment.

Sylvia Caminer is an Emmy Award-winning director and producer. She received more than 15 top awards at film festivals worldwide for her narrative feature directorial debut, FOLLOW HER (2023). She previously directed the documentaries, AN AFFAIR OF THE HEART (2012), about Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Rick Springfield; TANZANIA: A JOURNEY WITHIN (2011), an odyssey that explores beauty and suffering in East Africa; and the Daytime Emmy-winning travel show, SAMANTHA BROWN’S PLACES TO LOVE (2018-present). She has also produced more than fifteen independent features including the Harvey Keitel WWII film, CHOSEN, and THE DELI, BLUE MOON, LOVE N’ DANCING, GRACE and BREAKING POINT. Her production company, DolGer Films, is actively developing several projects for Sylvia to direct including a screenplay based on the U.K. sci-fi time travel novel, AND THEN SHE VANISHED, which is Book 1 of a 7 book series.

Sanjay Rawal is a James Beard Award winning filmmaker who spent 15 years working on global human rights campaigns. His films include FOOD CHAINS about the battle of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers against the largest agribusiness conglomerates in the world and 3100: Run and Become about ultra-marathoners who value running as a spiritual exercise. Arty Mangan of Bioneers talked to Sanjay about his latest film Gather, the story of reclaiming food sovereignty in three North American Indigenous communities.